Machine for sorting balls



No. 609,220. Patented Aug. le, |898. n. H; WHITE.

MACHINE FUR SORTING BALLS.

(Application led Nov. 30, 1897.)

2 Sheets- Sheet L (nu Model.)

17112671 llo/r wm@ ma/w40 lll/ll 'fr A {lill/lll' wia l/lll R. H. WHITE.

MACHINE FOB SOBTING BALLS.

` Patented Aug. I6, |898.

(Application led Nov. 30, 1897.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(un maal.)

ffil@ @Gef- T Nonms vzrsns co., Wofau'mo., wAsHmaYoN n c ri-Fic.

ROLLIN ll. VHITE, OF OLEVELAND,AOIIIO.

MACHINE FoR SORT-ING BALLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. eoe,geao,feaeanugssft Ie, lees. Applioationjiled November 30, 1897. Serial No. 660,200. .(NO model.) i

To cz/ZZ 'whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, ROLLIN H. VHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga landState of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Machines for Sorting Balls,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

Heretofore balls, oranges, and other 'spherical or approximately spherical objects have been automatically sorted by allowing them to roll down between two inclineddiverging rails, between which said objects drop when they reach a point where the'rails are sufficiently separated.

My inventionrelates to an improvementin machines of this character, the [object being to provide a cheap and simple machine especially adapted for sorting antifriction-balls according to their size and delivering the assorted balls into suitable convenient receptacles.

The invention relates particularly to the means for delivering the balls one by one from a hopper to the said inclined rails, to the receptacles Iinto which the assorted balls are delivered,and to the means for delivering saidassorted balls into the proper receptacles; and the invention consists in the construction and combination cf parts hereinafter described and claimed.

ln the drawings, Figure l is a sectional side elevation of my device. Fig. 2 is a sectional front elevation of the same on line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the pulley. Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view through the lower end of the hopper on line 5 5 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the funnel G and guide-'arms g g.

Referring to the parts by letters, A represents a case for a plurality of sliding drawn ers B B B2, which are the receptacles into which the assorted antifriction-balls are delivered. This case and thedrawers are of the usual form except this, that the top`cdge of one side of each drawer is cut away, as at b, so that the drawer may be pulled out of the case, notwithstanding the fact that the horizontal end of the delivery-tube extends over the said top edge, so as to deliver balls into the drawer.

OnA top of the case is a standard O, which supports a hopper D and the mechanism for .delivering the balls singly from the hopper through easily. A vertical shaft E passes centrally through this platel cZ" into the neck of the hopper. On its lower end is fastened Va grooved pulley F." A cylindrical sleeve H Iis likewise fastened to the shaft above the plate d', this sleeve being rotatably fitted in the cylindrical neck d of the hopper. One function of this sleeve is to hold the shaft E in the described position, which it does by resting upon theplate d". It is' also a combined agitator and ball-delivering device, because, first, one of the functions of the sleeve, which extends some distance into the hopper, is to agitate the balls to prevent them from wedging or arching in the hopper, and, second, another function is to deliver the balls one by one to the opening d3 in plate CZ. This effect is'` produced through the agency'of one or more grooves'h in the outer `surface of said sleeve, which grooves are deeper than the diameter ofthe balls. In

V the particular construction these grooves extend from end toend of the sleeve.

The pulley F, by which the shaft J is driven, is so designed that it temporarily prevents a ball in the hole d3 from dropping out. In order that it may perform this function, this pulley inside the grooved rim is ymade like a at disk 01' Platferwhifh lies close t0"l the plate CZ'- one 0f Imre holesf are made in 9S this disk-like part of the pulley, the holes being placed so `that they will pass directly under thehole` d3. The holesf,` however, must not be in the same vertical line with the grooves h. The pulleyis rotated by a belt I, which passes over two idler-pulleys c and under a pulley j, secured to the drivingshaft J. As the pulley F and its shaft and the sleeve H are rotated the balls find their way into the grooves h in the sleeve. Every time one of said grooves passes over the hole d3 in the plate d one of said balls drops into said hole and rests upon the pulley. "When in the further revolution of the pulley its holefcomes under the hole d3, the ball thence drops into the funnel G. The idler-pulleys c are mounted on a shaft which is secured to the same bracket X which supports the hopper, which bracket is vertically adjustable on the standard C, a set-screw c2 being provided for securing the bracket at the proper elevation.

G represents a funnel which is secured to an arm g, which in turn is fastened to the standard C. Two parallel guide-arms g lie just below the mouth thereof, whereby a ball falling through the funnel falls upon them, resting partly upon one, partly upon the other. These arms are slightly inclined downward toward their rear ends, which ends are close to the inclined sorting-rails K, onto which the balls are delivered from the arms g with a slight impetus to carry the balls up said rails.

The sorting-rails K K are inclined downward from their rear toward their front ends. They are supported upon a block M, which rests upon the top of the case. Two clampin g-plates N N rest, respectively, upon the upper and lower ends of said rails, down upon which they are drawn by means of the bolts m m, which pass through said plates N between the rails K and screw into the block M. The 'distance between the rails at their ends is regulated by means of two transverse horizontal bolts R, which pass through both of them near their ends, and by coil-springs S, which surround said bolts and thrust endwise against the two rails. Each bolt is prevented from turning by means of a pin r, which enters a hole in one of the rails. The other end of each bolt is threaded, and a thumb-nut which screws upon said end affords means for drawing the two rails toward each other. The distance between the rails increases from their upper to their lower ends.

In the block M are a plurality of nearly-vertical holes m', which are below the space between the rails. Vertical plates m2, which are secured to the block M, lie transverse to the rails and extend across the space between them. The purpose of these plates is to insure the passage of any ball which drops between the rails into the proper hole in the block M. In each of the holes in the block M a tube U is inserted, which tubes all pass down through the side or partition a of the case. The lower end u of each tube is bent into a nearly-horizontal transverse position, passing over the cut-away edge of one of the drawers, wherefore any ball that drops between the two rails K K will fall through the proper tube U and be delivered into the proper drawer.

Having described my invention, I claiml. In a ball-sorting machine, the combination of a hopper having an inwardly-tapered lower end and a cylindrical neck below said tapered portion, and a plate secured across the lower end of said neck and provided with a hole d3, with a rotatable cylinder fitted in said neck and provided withasurface groove whose lower end passes over said hole d3, and a rotatable disk F below and close to said plate havinga hole f, the disk F and cylinder being relatively so placed that the lower end of the surface groove in the latter and the hole f in the former are not in the same vertical line, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a ball-sorting machine, -in combination, a hopper having an inwardly-tapered lower end, and a neck below said contracted portion, a bottom plate secured across the lower end of said neck and having a hole for the passage of the balls, a rotatable vertical shaft passing centrally through said plate, a sleeve secured thereto and rotatably iitted in the neck of the hopper, said sleeve having a peripheral groove which extends from end to end and is adapted to pass over the hole in the bottom plate, and inclined diverging sorting-rails onto which the balls are delivered one by one after they fall through the hole in the bottom plate, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a ball-sorting machine, in combination, a hopper having an inwardly-tapered lower end and a neck below the same, a bottom plate secured across the lower end of said neck and having a hole for the passage of the balls, a rotatable vertical shaft passing through the said plate, a sleeve secured thereto and rotatably fitted in the neck of the hopper and extending up into the hopper, said sleeve having a peripheral groove which eX- tends from end to end and is adapted to pass over the hole in the bottom plate, a drivingpulley secured to the lower end of said shaft close to said bottom plate and having a hole which is not directly below the groove in the sleeve, and inclined diverging sorting-rails onto which the balls are delivered one by one as they fall through the hole in the bottom plate, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. In a ball-sorting machine, in combination, diverging sorting-rails which incline downward from their rear to their front ends, a hopper, means for releasing the balls sinn gly therefrom, a funnel into which the balls drop, and two guide-arms below the funnel,

which arms extend rearward, whereby the balls which fall through the funnel are caught in said arms, and by them delivered in a rearward direction onto the rails, substanstantially as and for the purpose speciiied.

5,. In a ball-sorting machine, in combina- IOO IIO

tion, two inclined diverging sorting-rails, a ally discharge into said drawers, substanplurality of delivery-tubes below the said tially as and for the purpose specified.. Io rails and adapted to catch the ballswhich fall In testimony whereof I affix my signature y between the rails, and a ease having a pluralin presence of two witnesses.

5 ity of sliding drawers therein, eaeh drawer ROLLIN I-I. WHITE.

having the top edge of one side eut away, the Titnessesz lower ends of said tubes being bent laterally E. L. THURSTON, over the side eut-away edges so as to sever- ALBERT H. BATES. 

